Button making



Nov. '2, 1943. G. E. I FEIFFER BUTTON MAKING Filed Aug. 18,- 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Georye f: Pfei/fer:

A T TORNEY Nov. 2, 1943. G. E. PFEIFTFER 2,333,121

BUTTON MAKING Filed Aug. 18, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

I l v a a l I E l v Q i H INVENTOR:

. GEORGE E. P/Z/Fff/f BY my Mfz/ Patented Nov. 2, 1943 NT OFFICE nur'ronMAKING George E. P fei-i fer, North Arlington,

N. J 'assignor to KrehbielEngineering Corporation, New York, NtY. i a

Application August18,193'8, Serial Ne. 225,622

' 3 Claims, (Cl. 79l1) This invention refers to an improved method ofand means-for makingbuttons. More partidilarly it refers to theoperation of perforating buttons; and to the performanceof other operations in connection therewith. i l

"Buttons 'are known which the. perforations are connected by a kerf uponthe surface of the buttons, such kerfs serving to receive andaccommodate one or more one perforation to the other. i i it times kerfsare renderedelaborate, in whichcase they are commonly termed fis heyes.Such "fisheyes do not only serve the purpose of the kerfs-but they mayalso be decorative, flaring beyond the perforations to be interconnectedthereby.

Fl'sheyes were heretofore superimposed upon buttons by separate millingor furrowing operations, which followed the drilling of theperforations. in the buttons. The button was chucked for such afurrowing operation, the previously provided perforations assisting inthe alignment of the button in the position in which it was to befurrowed. Then a revolving grinding wheel or milling cutter was loweredonto the chucked button and cut the fisheye, the shape ofwhichcorresponded'therefore in cross-section toa segment of the grindingwheel or milling cutter.

Such operations .arev cumbersome, and it has been-anobj'e'ctof thisinvention to provide a fisheye upon a. button while it is. mounted forother operations thereon; or to combine the drilling of holes'orperforations in a button with the cutting of a fisheye, or with similaroperations.

It has been another object of this'invention to overlap the cutting ofthe fisheye with other operations performed upon the buttonso that thisoperation doesnot require any extra time.

,It is a further object'of this invention to convertthe operation ofcutting a fisheye in a button in such fashion; that! the operation ofperforating the button may be expedited and simplified. I i

.Buttons are ordinarily made of condensation products or brittlematerial,v which are not particularly adapted for mechanical operation;

When that isth'e case or when it is desirable to perform operationsquickly, edges and corners frequentlychi-p off the buttons.duringmanufacturel-This occurs with the drilling of' the perforationsof a button, for instance ,as a; drill breaks' through "when emerging onthe opposite side of a1 button. For that reason it even ,has been foundtobe expedient, togo through thecumbersome procedure threads slung fromparticularly in connection r of drilling a perforation in a button fromoppo site sides, i. e. about half-way from one side and half-way fromthe opposite side, so that a'hole does not break through the surface ofa, button and a chipping "of thesurface is avoided.

It has been a particular object of this inven; tion toprevent a drillwhich bores perforations in a buttoiixfrom breaking through," withouthaving'recourse to cumbersome operations servin'gto prevent. chipping,like the double-drilling operation just referred to. c

These andother objectsof this invention will be more clearly understoodfrom the following description thereof. For thepurpose ofillustratingthe invention, a particular button-making machine isdescribed herein in detail. It will however be understood by thoseversed in this art, that the method and means of this invention mayreadily be incorporated and embodied in other button-makingmachinery.

'In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows a button drilling machine, partly inelevation, partly in cross-section.

Fig. 2 shows a composite of cams which are schematically superimposedupon each other in order to illustrate how the method of this. inventioncan be performed automatically.

Fig. 3 shows the top view of a button, which is perforated and providedwith a-fisheye.

Fig. 4 shows a'modification of a button in a similartop View, a pair offisheyes being here applied in cross-formation. I

Fig. 5 shows a cross-sectioned side View correspending to' the button ofFig. l

Fig. 6 shows a cross-section of the same button, this cross-sectionbeing taken in a direc- 'tion normal to the cross-section of Fig. 5.

Figs.'7 andBare'the end and side views, respectively of a drill. i

Fig. 9 is -th'e side View ofa drill serving as a milL; i 1

Figs. 10 and 11 are schematic cross sections which illustrate,respectively,- consecutive stages of a combined fisheye cutting anddrilling opera.- tiOn. j i

Similar numerals referto throughout the various views-r A stock; H-arises substantially centrally from the bed ll of the machine shown inFig. -l. The

. similar parts button blank I3 is fed from above-and circumierentially'engaged by a suitable chuck in stock Hp The faces of the chucked buttonblank l3 are substantially fully exposed, so that they are faced by thedrill head M to the right and; the drill head l5to the lef,t,respectively.

To the rear of the machine is arranged a worm shaft I6, which carries onits end a step pulley IT. The drill spindles I8 are preferably supportedwith end thrust in the drill heads l4 and i5, and they respectivelycarry pulleys l9. These pulleys, like the step pulley I1, may beconnected by suitable belt drives to a counter shaft (not shown). Wormshaft It drives the cam shafts 2| and 22 by worm wheels 20, one of saidshafts being 'arranged to the left, and the other one to the right ofthe machine. Superimposed upon the machine is a magazine 23 for buttonblanks. It contains a hopper 24, which is driven from cam shaft 2| byway of a worm drive 25 and a chain drive 26 with take-up idler 21. Thebutton blanks are guided from the hopper by way of chute 28, the feedmechanism 29 being controlled from a cam on cam shaft 2| by way of alever I 30, whereas the chucking is controlled by a cam (not shown) onthe other cam shaft 22; The

feeding and chucking proceed in the manner known in this art; and theseoperations are not explained in detail because no claim is laid thereto.

In the embodiment shown in" the drawings, a button blank It remainsstationaryin the stock H, while the operations now to be discussed areperformed thereon. .The mills or drills 3i or 32' are removably mountedat the end of the drill heads M and i5. While actuated by the beltdrives they rotate continuously around an'angula'rly substantially fixedaxis; but they are each controlled'for movement in all directions. Thetwo drill heads M and I5 are substantially symmetrical toeach other inrespect to arrangement forsuch control. But for the method of thisinvention, drill head M with 'drill3l is equipped for movement ofmilling a fisheye, whereas drill head l5 with drill 32 is moved to drillperforations in the button blanks.

In the case of drills 3i and 32, a control of movement in all directionsis obtained by synthesizing it from an endwise. a transverse and avertical component, each of these components involving, in the case ofeach of the drill heads l4 and IS, a separate cam control. Strictlyspeaking the endwise components involve reciprocatory movement in anendwise direction; whereas the transverse and vertical componentsinvolve oscillatory movement. But in connection with the last twocomponents, the far ends of the drill heads serve as fulcra; and sincethe arcs of movement of the tools 3! and 32 in a transverse and avertical direction are very short, they'both virtually reciprocate inmoving in atransverse or vertical direction.

Manufacture of a button like that shown in Fig.

3 involves the use of the endwise component and either the vertical orthe transverse component, the former alternative being here shown anddescribed in detail. on the drill head M to the right, which is shown tobe equipped for cutting fisheyes, we use oncam shaft 22 the cam RE(right endwise) and cam RV (right vertical). On the left drill head l5an endwise and vertical component of the operation of drilling theperforations of the button blank are obtained by the cam LE (leftendwise) and cam LV (left vertical), respectively. v

' I On the cam shaft 2 l on which are mounted the last mentioned cams,thedrawings also show a cam LT (left transverse), to which wouldcorrespond'a cam RT (right transverse) in a symmetrical arrangement oncam shaft 22 which latter cam RT is not-shown. "The cams RT and LT mayreplace the cams RV and LV in making a button like that shown in Fig. 3.Or they may come into play in adding the horizontal fisheye 33 shown inconnection with the perforations 34 and 35 on button 36 of Fig. 4 to thevertical fisheye 37 and perforations 3B and 38 of the button 4%) of Fig.3.

Except for the cams andtools used the arrangement of the drill heads issubstantially the same to the left and to the right, as follows:

Since all cams are shown as face cams, it is presumed that therespective rollers are tensioned thereonto, e. g. by springs. Plates Mare endwise slidably mounted in the bed l2 of the button making machine,each one of these plates, to the right and to the left of the machine,carrying a roller 42, which engage upon the cams RE and LE,respectively. From the corners of bed l2 arise posts 53, a pair at theleft end and a pair at the right end. Between a pair of these posts aswing plate &5 is fulcrumed upon a pivot 44 connecting the tops of saidposts 43. The swing plate 45 depends, at its lower end 46, intoengagement with the plate 4i, so that the swing plate 45 is swung backand forth, as the plate M is ,reciprocated by cam RE or LE. Each swingplate 35 is provided with a vertical row of tapped holes ii. In any oneof these holes 41 may be mounted the set screw 4%8, the free end of theset screw protruding from the plate to a distance set by way of .a nutlocking the set screw 48 upon the plate 45. The assemblies of drillheads l4 or. 15, are pushed, e. g. by springs 39, into abuttingengagement'upon the free ends of the set screws .8. According to whetherthe set screw 18 is mounted higher or lower in one or the other of thetapped holes l! of swing plate 45, the rise or drop of cams RE and LE,respectively, is transmitted to the drill head assembly by way of therespective screw .48 at a more or less reduced fraction.

Each drill assembly is arranged as follows: Each assemblyhas a Ib'ase5i,.j which is siidably superimposed upon the plate 4!, and which may beslid endwise as well as transverselyupon the bed, l2, being retainedthereon by flat top rails 52. By tension means (not shown) similar tospring "is base 5! is tensioned towardsthe observer of Fig. 1; e. g. itis aligned along the front ex.- tent of bed If, except where thedrill'end ofsaid bas 5! is pushed away from the front of bed if by thefree end of a'set screw 53 abutting thereupon. Set screw 53 is mountedin the free end of the lever 54, which is'fulcrumed by way of 'a bracket55 upon the bed l2 of the machine, and which is engaged by way of aroller 56 at its other end upon a cam 'RT (not shown) or LT,respectively; Thus the end of a base 5i extending towards the stock I i,will be pushed in an oscillatory movement by the set screw 53, when thelever 54 is rocked by the respective transverse c-am on the respectivecam shaft 2| "or 22.

From opposite ends of each base 5! arise the forked brackets 56 and 51.By way of screw pivots 58 the far'ends of one'of the drill heads (54 orIE) are fulcrumedin the forkedbrackets 56, and the free drill ends ofsaid drill heads are 'ver tically slidably guided by the parallel innerfaces of thelegs of the other-forked brackets 5'5. Set screws 38 engageupon the backs of forked brackets 56, so that the drill heads Hi and"iii are endwise moved bythe cams RE and LE! By way of cam RT (notshown), and LT'a transverse movement of the tools 3| and 32 at the frontend of drill heads 14 and l5may be govi a roller 63.

emed- Tools 3!, and 32 are raised and lowered by the cams LV and RV;Thetransmission gearing for this last control movement comprises a lever59- fulcrumed upon bed I'i and carrying, at one end'a roller 60 engagedupon the respective vertical cam RV or LV, and engagingat its other end6i underneath the adjustable, vertically movable table 62, the :far endof the drill head i l or I resting upon table 62' for instance .byway ofSprings 64 serveto strap ,thefldrill heads Hand i-5down. 1 1 Flat drillswith round shafts, as they maybe used for operatingon buttons made. ofcondensation products, for instance,,gare shown in: Figs.

'7, 8 and 9. The width of drill 32fibetWeen the substantially parallelcutting edges, 68; determines the diameter of the perforations.producedin the button blank, and the length of said parallel cuttingedges depends upon the d-eptht which the perforationsor holes must bebored until they merge with the fisheye as explained herein-Y after.

From the said parallel cutting edges 68 the drill converges ,to a point66; and it widens out at chamier edges 61 for the purpose of producing acountersink at the entranceof a perforation, if sodesired. The anglebetweenthe cutting edges GB-of the Wider drill or cutting-tool 31: ofFig. '9 substantiallycorresponds to the desired angle between theconverging sides of a, fisheye 33 or 31. e

In order to producea fisheye upon the faceof a button, a rotary toollike that of Fig. 9.; is fed, as a rotating. stylus, normally to itsaxis of rotation, past the top face of a button. While thus fed past.the button, the tool is first "axially ad-- vanced and then axiallywithdrawn from cutting engagement with the button, thus producing afurrow in the button. I i

Let us assume that the operation, just described is being performed on.the button of, Fig. 3, the milling or furrrowing tool moving vertically.up. Simultaneously with the operation of advancing, the furrowing ormilling tool,.while it moves up uniformly, hole 38- is drilled in thebutton from the back, this drilling operation being substantiallyfinished and the drilling tool being withdrawn, when; the furrowingormilling tool has arrived, in its upward movement, substantially at thecenter of button 40 (Position A) Now the, perforation 3,9 is drilled.from the backlof the button, while the milling orfurrowing toolcontinuesifrom the center of the buttonfin its up-. ward movement, themilling or;;furrowing tool being at the, same timeslowly withdrawn, e.g. 5 F

conversely tothe way it hadqbeenpreviously advanced. The milling orfurrowingitcol will emergefrom the' topor front: surface of the but tonsubstantially when perforation or hole 39 has been drilled and that:drill has been withdrawn from the back of the button (Position B) Thedrill does not have to bore from the back through the button 40, whenproviding the perforations 38. Even if the drill has extended onlypartly into the button from the back, in boring said perforation, theperforation will be laid bare, as shown in Fig. 3, when the milling orboring tool passes thereover in its upward progress.

If a drill like that shown in Fig. 8 is used, the distance from thecorners between the parallel edges 65 and chamfering edges 6'! to thetip of the drill should therefore be less than the thickness of thebutton to be perforated. The drill will then be inserted for producingperforation '38, until the cutting edges 68 begin to provide a chamferin the back of perforation .38. Then the drill 32 is withdrawnj-althoughit has not yet emerged from the front of the button; The drill should,also, be extended from the back of the button for substantiallythedistance just described, when aperforation 39 is drilled. In that casethe drillwill break through into the lower portion of fisheye 31,- whichthen hasalready withdrawn and the end mill furrowing the fishbeenproduced; But there is.no= danger of a chippingof the button material,when the, drill; thus breaks through, becauseloi the slanted position ofthe fisheye walls.

.That operation is illustrated by FigsclO and 11. -Fig. 1 0"=illustratesa stage of operation just before the aforementionedposition A has beenreached. 'As compared with said position 'A' Fig. ld shows that thedrill has not: yet been with, drawn and that the fisheye milling toolhas not yet reached-the center of the button.

Similarly, Fig. 11 shows av'stage. just preceding DOSltiOIIwB, The drillagain has not yet been eye has not yet emerged from the surface of thebutton.

. has been fixedly mounted in position, the rotating (muse! and 32. movealong1a path respectively indicatedby a solid arrow; until they 'reach,

I ll

From the start,-i. e. aftera button blank 4!) serving respectively as anend mill and as a drill and countersink tool, the position of Fig. 10.Similar arrows inconnection with Fig. 11 show the movement of the'drillfrom the position of Fig. 10 to that of Fig. 1.1. i From theposition of Fig. 11 the drills return to a position of rest, or astarting position, by following the dash-lines leading up to the beginning oi the solid arrows of Fig. 10'; then button 40 is replaced byanother blank.

In order to carry out the method just de scribed automatically, a buttonmaking machine, for instance that of Fig. 1, is fed and chuckedcyclically with button blanks in the position [3 shown.' Drills'likethose of Figs. 9 and 8 are mounted in the drill heads l4 and is,respectively, and thefollowing order and arrangement of cams is usedforproducing a button like that of Fig. 3. No transverse movement is used,e. g. cam LT is not required; therefore the two drill heads will remainaligned in a vertical plane, which extends substantially through thecenter or the button and through the axes of the drill heads. v g

The. cams LE, LV, RE and RV, have been angularly coordinated in thesystematic View of Fig. 2, .so that they represent a chronological orderof operations, when they revolve in clock- Wise direction and all camrollers apply upon one and the same line through the center. a At the]upper left corner of Fig.2 we have the. discharging, feeding andchucking interval, during -(right endwise) which is indicated in a solidoutline in Fig. 2, will therefore impart between chucking operations,first a slow movement to the left, and then a corresponding slowmovement to the right, to the milling tool 3| of drill head l4, thesemovements corresponding to the the the remaining section of advance andwithdrawal motion of the description of the method given above.

The dot-dash surface of cam RV (right verticalldescribes a true spiralcurve between chucking intervals,so that table 62 and therefore alsomilling tool 3| rise at a uniform speed past the front of button blank13, this movement corresponding to the vertical upward movement past thefront of the button in the method described above. During this uniformupward motion of tool 31, it cuts the fisheye 31 into the button blank.Said fisheye gapes in cross-section corresponding to the angle betweenthe cutting edges'of. toolSl, and the shape being determined 'as'to.depth and length by the horizontal level at which the set screw 48ismounted in one or the other of the tapped holes M, and by the extent towhich said set screw 48 extends beyond the respective swing plate 45.During the chuckinginterval, when? tool 3| is withdrawn from the buttonblank position l3 by virtue of the concave'portion of cam RE, themilling tool 3i returns to its lowest starting position, by way of thequick drop 12 of cam RV.

.The two cams just described are mounted on cam shaft 22.. "CamLV,:which is mounted upon cam shaft 2|, is indicated'in a dash linemerging with the outer circumference of the cam hub 13 for a low dwell.To said'low dwell corresponds on the opposite side a high dwell 14, saiddwells corresponding in reference to the drill 32 in drill head l to thelevels of the perforations 38 and 39 to bebored in the button blank it.Thus the drill 32 is in the raised position of dwell '14 after thechucking operation, at which level it maydrill a hole 38. For a similarperiod of the next cutting operation, the low dwell of .cam LV holds thedrill 32 in a position for boring the perforation 38. To thesetwo dwellsof cam LV correspond two uniform, truly spiral rises, 15 and T6, of thecam LV (left endwise) which is shown in the drawing in a solid doubleline. In other words, during chucking intervals theperforations 3B and39 are successively bored. The perforation 38 is bored whilethe millingtool 3| furrows the bottom half of the button. When the latter. hasreached the center of the button,

the boring perforation 38 has substantially been finished. [Then thetool 3! continues past the center over hole 3-8, laying it bare towardthe surface of the buttons as a perforation. During this latter periodthe perforation 39 is drilled,

tool 32 now being in a bottom position, corresponding to the bottomdwell. of cam LV.

A similar button, in which the fisheye and the perforations arehorizontally aligned, will be obtained when the drill heads are movedtransversely instead of being moved vertically, such action beingbrought about by the cams LT and RT (not shown), which then are providedwith faces corresponding to those of the cams LV and RV, respectively.Therefore a party ac quainted with cam gearing will readily understandthat a drilling and furrowing like that shown in Fig. 3 may also befollowed in the same cycle by a'drilling and milling in the horizontaldirection, so that a button of Fig. 4 is produced.

Having thus described my invention in detail, yet I do not wish to belimited thereby, except as the state of the art and the appended claimsmay require, for it is obvious that Various modifications and changesmay be made in the form of embodiment of my invention, without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof.

What I claim is:

1. Making a'button, comprising a first step 0 milling a fisheye throughthe surface of one side of a button blank by moving the cutting pointprovided at the end of a rotary cutting tool across the surface of saidside of th button blank, the axis of rotation of said cutting remainingsubstantially normal to said surface, and advancing and then withdrawingsaid tool into the body of the button blank while it is thus movedacross, pierces said surface at a slant, furrows through said body andfinally emerges at a slant from said surfacaand a second step ofproviding a hole in said blank by drilling from the opposite side of theblank through the blank into the fisheye being milled into said one sideafter the milling of the fisheye has been started and before 7 suchmilling has been finished.

2. Making a button, comprising drilling a hole into one side of a buttonblank, withdrawing the drilling tool, milling a fisheye into the otherside of the blank starting from a point removed from the axis of saidhole but moving towards said axis, said fisheye merging with and beingmilled across said hole after withdrawal of the drilling tool therefrom,moving the drilling tool counter to the direction of the cutting of thefisheye, and then again drilling with the drilling tool into said oneside of the blank until the hole produced merges with said fisheye. I

3. Making a button, comprising drilling a hole into one side of a buttonblank, withdrawing the drilling tool, milling a fisheye into the otherside of the blank starting from a point removed from the axis of saidhole but moving towards said axis, said fisheye merging with and beingmilled across said hole after withdrawal of the drilling tool therefrom,moving the drilling tool counter to the direction of the cutting of thefisheye, and then again drilling with the drilling tool into said oneside of the blank until the hole produced merges with said fisheye, saidmilling operation being continuous and chronologically substantiallycoextensive with said drilling operations.

GEORGE E. PFEIFFER.

